1774 — Nov 21, gale, brig and sloop founder, back of Cape Ann MA[1]                     —  >10

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 7-23-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

—>10  Perley, Sidney. Historic Storms of New England. Salem, MA: Salem Press, 1891, p. 104.

Narrative Information

Perley: “The New England coast is probably the most perilous of any to be found on either shore of the United States. It is generally bold, “stern and rock-bound,” and Cape Cod has extensive and dangerous sand bars that have been the scene of many a shipwreck. Storms have been frequent on our shores, and until the number of lighthouses were multiplied the loss of property and life continually increased with the growth of commerce. The government has now made known to the navigator each dangerous point and bar and hidden reef; but too late to change the history of the early storms.

 

“On the night of Monday, November 21, 1774, occurred a violent rain storm, the wind blowing from the east-southeast with the force of a gale. Out on the ocean it was about as severe as any that had been known, and several vessels foundered. The brig Polly, belonging to Piscataqua, and commanded by Captain Jackson, arrived at Salem, Mass., from St. Kitts, the day after the storm, and the master reported that the heaviest of the gale was at midnight, when he was off Cape Cod, the wind continuing to blow until five o’clock in the morning. The people on the vessel thought the wind was much stronger than any they had ever before known on the ocean, though some of them were old sailors and had followed the sea for more than a score of years. Their foresail, mainsail, maintopsail and close-reefed foretopsail were split, and the sea broke in the vessel abaft, stove in her dead lights, which had been well secured, and entered the cabin in large streams, until it was filled. The seamen were much alarmed, and expected every moment that the vessel would go to the bottom with all on board; but she kept above the water, and arrived at the land in safety. The wind was so strong that Captain Jackson sailed under a close-reefed foretopsail from Cape Cod to Baker’s Island breakers in Salem harbor, a distance of more than forty-five miles, in about six hours. Captain Chapman, in a schooner, lost his masts and rigging somewhere off the coast of New Hampshire, while coming from Newfoundland. He arrived at the harbor of Salem, Mass., on the third day after the storm, having succeeded in doing so with extreme difficulty. He had got within ten or twelve miles of the shore when the storm drove him from his course.

 

“There were several wrecks on the coast of Massachusetts, between Cape Cod and Cape Ann. On the back of Cape Cod, a brig was wrecked and the life of only one seaman saved. Two vessels, a brig and a schooner, were seen bottom upwards off Plymouth. At Marblehead, three or four vessels broke away from or dragged their anchors, and were driven on shore, receiving much damage. One of them a sloop, belonging to Colonel Lee, came from the eastward loaded with wood, and was bilged, the people being saved. In the harbor of Salem, a sloop that had come from Connecticut with a cargo of grain, was driven on shore and greatly damaged. A schooner, belonging to Thomas Russell, a merchant of Charlestown, lying at Blaney’s wharf, was driven with such violence against the wharf that her quarter deck was stove in, and one of her sides greatly damaged. Several other vessels were driven ashore near Stage point, but the tide having begun to ebb, they were gotten off at the next tide without much injury. At Beverly, a brig belonging to Timothy Fitch, Esq., of Boston, was driven on the mussel bed near the old ferry-way, but was gotten off with little damage. Captain Perkins in a sloop, from the eastward, laden with wood, while crowding sail to clear the Salvages, off Cape Ann, was upset, and the vessel sank. The lives of the people were saved by their boat. A brig from Newfoundland, and a sloop foundered on the back of Cape Ann, and all the people who were on board both vessels perished.”

 

Sources

 

Colonial Sense. “New England Weather. The Storm of 1774 – November 21st.” (A transcription of Perley). Accessed 7-23-2024 at: http://www.colonialsense.com/Society-Lifestyle/Signs_of_the_Times/New_England_Weather/The_Storm_of_1774.php

 

Perley, Sidney. Historic Storms of New England. Salem, MA: The Salem Press, 1891. Google Preview accessed 7-22-2024 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=twkAAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Perley does not name the ships but notes “all the people who were on board both vessels perished.” One would expect a crew of at least ten for a brig as well as a sloop. Thus, it is likely that at least twenty lost their lives. This, though, is a conjecture.